1. Taxi Driver (1976)
   
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
   
3. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
   
4. The End of Evangelion (1997)
   
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
   
6. Unforgiven (1992)
   
7. Burning (2018)
   
8. Days of Heaven (1978)
   
9. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
   
10. The Wild Bunch (1969)

I definitely need to watch more European movies…

Meru (2015)
IMDb: 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Available free on: Netflix, Kanopy (library), Hoopla (library), Tubi (with ads)

Touching the Void (2003)
IMDb: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Available free on: Kanopy (library), Pluto TV (with ads)
Also on paid platforms: Philo, AMC+, Sundance Now

Free Solo (2018)
IMDb: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Available on: Hulu, Disney+

1. Spirited Away (2001)

2. Funny Games (2007)

3. Parasite (2019)

4. The Fall (2006)

5. Old Boy (2003)

6. Joint Security Area (2000)

7. Tenet (2020)

8. The Wailing (2016)

9. Interstellar (2014)

10. The Revenant (2015)

These are movies that I don’t want to watch nor consider/have any interest in watching as either I’ve seen clips of the film or have heard about/seen reviews of them online and they made me uncomfortable to watch the movie as a whole.

Andrei Tarkovsky. Andrei Rublev

Wong Kar-wai. In the Mood for Love

Robert Altman. Gosford Park

Jacques Tati. Playtime

Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Tropical Malady

I’m Olga, producer and co-writer of an indie sci-fi film about exactly this, so I’ve watched a lot of these. My personal top 10:

1. World on a Wire (1973). Fassbinder’s two-part TV film about a simulated world with “living” inhabitants, made 25 years before The Matrix. A true hidden gem.
2. Alice in Wonderland. The original rabbit hole, and still the blueprint for every “other world” story.
3. Tron (1982). Literally pulled inside the machine, decades ahead of its time.
4. The NeverEnding Story (1984). A boy reads his way into another world, and the world needs him.
5. The Matrix (1999). The one that started it all for most of us, and Reloaded’s château fight proved swords belong in virtual worlds too.
6. eXistenZ (1999). Cronenberg’s gooey, unsettling take on game reality.
7. Avalon (2001). Mamoru Oshii’s live-action VR war game. Underrated and haunting.
8. Spirited Away (2001). The most beautiful isekai ever made.
9. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Guillermo del Toro’s dark fairy-tale world hiding inside 1940s Spain.
10. Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale (2017). Swords and virtual worlds are literally in the title.

And the one I’m biased about: KILL/SAVE (2026), our film. A programmer goes into a brutal darknet game after the woman he loves, a medieval world with swords, axes and real pain. Live-action, practical fights, shot in Spain. Here’s the teaser: watch the teaser on YouTub

What would you add? I’m sure I’m missing some good ones.

Here is a list of my Top 15 Sci Fi Movies-

1.The Day After Tomorrow

2.Armageddon

3.Interstellar

4.The Abyss

5.Star Wars:Empire Strikes Back

6.Star Wars:Return of the Jedi

7.2001:A Space Odyssey

8.Back to the Future

9.Terminator 2:Judgement Day

10.Star Trek:Generations

11.Looper

12.Minority Report

13.Star Wars:A New Hope

14.The Martian

15.Men in Black

Source: Dan Murrell’s Charts with Dan.

Source: Charts with Dan.